Doomsday (DC)
Doomsday is a male comic supervillain that features in DC Comics. Biography Origin Doomsday's Containment Suit in Superman: Man of Steel v1 #18. Doomsday was a creature that was once native to the planet Krypton. His origins was traced to 250,000 years ago when Krypton was a harsh inhospitable planet with the only habitation being an extraterrestrial laboratory headed by the scientist Bertron. He was looking to breed the ultimate lifeform and created an infant that was sent out into the wild where he was killed within seconds by the deadly savage beasts of the world. The remains were recovered and a clone was bred with the new born infant once more sent to the surface who was once again killed either by the creatures or by the harsh planetary atmosphere. Bertron simply had the child's remains taken again and a fresh clone being bred who was once more set out again and again over the course of ten years. Each time, the infant survived longer in the harsh environment but still perished only for a new clone to be made of him. In the span of thirty years, millions of years of evolution were circumvented as the infant began to adapt to his harsh surroundings and grow more adept at surviving. On one occasion, the infant survived for several hours on Krypton's surface before perishing in an encounter with predators and was once more cloned as evolutionary adaptations formed on the offspring's body. The grand experiment continued until a new clone of the infant was grown that was now an adult which Bertron referred to as the Ultimate. He was dispatched to the surface where the creature survived for two years and followed a mission to live with the Ultimate hunting all the harsh predators of the planet to extinction. By this point, the creature was believed to had achieved perfection as it had evolved by defeating death. He then returned to the laboratory where he was created and remembered all the deaths he had experienced from his previous incarnations with him considering his creators a threat. After destroying the research complex, he wandered the surface and discovered a ship which supplied Bertron's expedition. He went on-board the craft that took the Ultimate into space who began to move from world to world bringing destruction in his wake. This led to him eventually arriving on the advanced world of Calaton where he ravaged the world for three years leaving only the capital city standing in the end. The royal family sacrificed their lives to embody a being that combined their abilities leading to the creation of the Radiant. The two artificially engineered beings battled one another in a fight that lasted over a week with Doomsday unable to fight a creature made of energy. Thus, the Ultimate was defeated by the stronger foe with his dead body being encased in a prison suit and left on a ship to wander space as they believed the murderer did not deserve burial on their ruined world of Calaton. The ship became trapped in an asteroid belt and fell to the surface on Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) Modern Whilst floating in space, the asteroid was found by a starship that was salvaging raw material with them bringing their find on board only to discover the creature chained to it. They attempted to jettison the asteroid but Doomsday awakened having resurrected from his death and freed himself where he massacred the crew. The ship then went on its automated flight program to Apokolips where Doomsday escaped onto the surface. The Apokoliptians gathered their forces but were unable to stop the legendary Armageddon Creature that tore through their forces. At this time, the villainous Cyborg Superman whose mind was contained in a piece of technology he placed on Doomsday's corpse took over a dead body and fashioned it into a copy of his form whereupon he assisted the monsters rampage with the intention of taking the planet over once the Armageddon Creature was through with it. Darkseid then intervened and used his Omega Beams to disintegrate Doomsday but the had no affect on the beast. The creature then proceeded to brutally beat Darkseid and leaving him for dead whereupon he continued his rampage. By this point, Superman had arrived on Apokolips as he was searching for clues on Doomsday's origins only to be shocked to find the creature still alive and destroying the planet. Desaad used this as an opportunity to open a Boom Tube and sent the creature elsewhere with Superman failing to stop the monster from being sent away. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #1) Doomsday was transported to Calaton where he went on a rampage and devastated that world whose people before had defeated by calling for their champion the Radiant. However, this time, the Radiant was unable to fell the creature who had adapted to the energy based attacks leading to the Calatonian to be slain. Superman arrived at the scene alongside Waverider as the pair sought to stop Doomsday who had evolved new abilities allowing him to overpower and badly wound the Man of Steel. Even with the assistance of Waverider, they were unable to stop the persistence of Doomsday with Superman hatching on a plan where he took himself along with the creature into the timestream. Doomsday was deposited at the end of time when the universe collapsed and ceased to exist with the creature finally slain in this time period whilst Superman was saved by Waverider. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3) Though defeated, the timeline was affected by the actions of Parallax during the Zero Hourincident. This allowed a Coluan by the name of Prin Vnok to use forbidden time travel technology to recover Doomsday prior to his death and returning him to the present. Once there, he was brought to Colu so he could transfer his master Brainiac's mind into Doomsday which he took as his new body. However, the strong survival instinct of Doomsday threatened to expel Brainiac from the body and he sought an alternative. He found one in the infant child of Pete Ross and Lana Lang who he sought to mutate with Doomsday's genetic material and claim as his new body. However, he was stopped by Superman who planted a psi-blocker on the body thus forcing Brainiac out and restoring Doomsday to his true nature. He attempted to attack the Man of Steel who tricked the beast into a transporter pod leaving him at first on the Moon then he rigged it so that the creature was in a constant state of transport to prevent his escape. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #3) Whilst on Apokolips, scientists attempted to replicate the creature but failed to do so due to his complex DNA. Thus, they used samples of it that were merged with Doctor Bedlam's Animates creating weaker copies of Doomsday. An army of such Doomsday animates were then deployed to fight the Amazons on Themyscira when Darkseid sought the capture of Kara Zor-El. (Superman/Batman v1 #10) The New 52 Overview Personality and attributes His creator Bertron referred to the creature as the Ultimate as he believed it to be perfect being. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) He was driven by an instinct to survive with him being programmed to live and looking to kill threats. As such, he looked to sense, seek out and destroy those he considered hostile. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) An aspect of his biology meant that his genetic makeup meant that he remembered all the times he was killed. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) This also meant that he saw Bertron as a threat to himself and despite his creators death he still saw the face of his maker in Superman which was why he sought to kill the Man of Steel. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3) Powers and abilities His eyesight was said to be incredibly acute that he could see objects with fine detail even if they were miles away from him. (Superman: Doomsday Wars v1 #2) He did not need to breathe or eat and lacked any internal organs along with had minimal fluids in his body and his form solid throughout. Doomsday was nourished by solar energy and could store a millennium of it within his body if necessary. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) The creature had the ability to regrow the spiked bone growths on his body if they were shattered in combat. A key strength of the creature was his ability to adapt to attacks made against him. In one case, he adapted to ultrasonic attacks by having his auditory canals close off in an instant and making him impervious to such attacks. He also developed the ability to shoot out the spikes on his fists to pierce the skin of an opponent then pull it back to bring a distant foe to a closer range. These could also be coated in poisons which could affect even super-powered Kryptonians. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #3) Doomsday was capable of surviving in any environment and said to be capable of destroying any foe. The creature was believed to had defeated death and had become immortal. In fact, if he was ever killed by a stronger foe than he simply returned back to life and evolved into a more superior being. He was incapable of dying as his body regenerated and Doomsday came back stronger than before making him unkillable. (Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1 #2) Notes * Doomsday was created by Dan Jurgens where he made a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel v1 #18 (December 1992). Alternate Versions * In Dark Nights: Metal v1 (2017), an alternate version of the world designated as Earth -1 was shown in the Dark Multiverse. On this world, Superman went rogue for reasons unknown and killed Lois Lane whereupon he turned against the Justice League. In an effort to stop him, Batman engineered the Doomsday Virus to make him powerful enough to defeat the mad Kryptonian with him able to shift between his human form and his transformed state where he was known as the Devastator. However, the nature of his world meant that it was going to disappear into the Multiverse but the Batman Who Laughs'''recruited the Devastator to join him alongside their master '''Barbatos as they attacked the prime Earth. In other media Television * In Justice League, the character made an appearance as an antagonist in the episode "A Better World" where he was voiced by Michael Jai White. He was shown crashing onto Earth where he proceeded to lay waste to Metropolis only to be confronted by the Superman of the parallel world of the Justice Lords. During the fight, this Superman lobotimized Doomsday with his heat vision. Films * In Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Doomsday featured as an antagonist in the live-action movie where motion capture was performed by actor Robin Atkin Downes. He was created from the dead remains of General Zod whose body was experimented by Lex Luthor. After gaining access to a crashed Kryptonian ship, Luthor managed to get the genesis chamber to mix his own DNA with Zod's to create a forbidden Deformity. Zod emerged from the chrysalis as Doomsday who was dispatched to kill Superman. The battle with Doomsday later involved Batman and Wonder Woman who fought at the abandoned pier at Gotham City. In the fight, Doomsday hand was severed but was regenerating when Superman pierced the creature with a Kryptonite spear. As Doomsday died, he similarly pierced Superman with a bone blade leading to the death of both fighters. Video games * In The Death and Return of Superman, Doomsday appeared as a secondary boss villain in the 1994 side scrolling beat em' video game adaptation of the comic storyline. * In DC Universe Online, Doomsday appeared as one of the antagonists in the MMORPG with him being voiced by actor Benjamin Jansen. * In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Doomsday appeared as a playable character that featured both as a fighter and in the story mode where he was voiced by actor Khary Payton. He had a number of alternate skins available that included Doomsday, Regime, Blackest Night and Containment Suit. He was among the villains that battled the Justice League during Lex Luthors attack on the Watchtower. On the alternate Earth, that version of Superman was poisoned by Joker by chemicals to make him believe he was fightin Doomsday when in reality he had killed his wife Lois Lane along with their unborn child. This chain of events led him to establish the One Earth Regime with himself as a dictator who became the High Councillor. On this Earth, that version was captured and enslaved by High Councillor Superman through the use of implants. During the story mode, the Regime Doomsday was deployed to level Metropolis after the world population turned against the High Councillor. The main reality Superman was brought to this world where he battled the Regime Doomsday whereupon he took their fight to the Fortress of Solitude and on the fight Doomsday was banished to the Phantom Zone. * In Infinite Crisis, Doomsday featured as a playable character in the MOBA game where he was voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore. * In DC Legends, Doomsday appeared in the iOS video game with a Bio including his backstory. Appearances * Superman: Man of Steel v1: * Action Comics: * Superman/Doomsday: Hunter/Prey v1: * Superman: Doomsday Wars: * Superman/Batman: * Action Comics: * Superman: * Batman/Superman: * Superman/Wonder Woman: Category:Comic characters Category:Characters Category:Supervillains Category:Villains Category:DC characters Category:Antagonists Category:Main Antagonists